Four men ‘raped’

MOHALE — An instructor at a top security company, BB Alert Security, was arrested on Monday for allegedly sodomising trainee guards at the company’s training camp in Mazenod.
The instructor, Sehloho Mokapela, 43, appeared at the Mohale Magistrate’s Court yesterday where he flatly denied the allegations.
The complainants, whose names are known to the Lesotho Times but have been withheld to protect their identity as possible rape victims, are aged 18, 21, 25 and 28.
The four alleged that Mokapela raped them claiming it was their punishment for sleeping while on duty.
They all claimed to have been sodomised in separate incidents between November 8 and last Wednesday.
They were all undergoing training at BB Alert’s training camp at Masana village in Mazenod.
Yesterday the four were not given a chance to lead evidence in court, but the 25-year-old complainant told this paper that Mokapela allegedly raped him once after threatening him with a “big knife”. 
He said Mokapela allegedly sodomised him on November 8.
He alleged that Mokapela threatened to kill him if he told anyone about the incident.
He said Mokapela would call him and his colleagues one by one so that they could serve their punishment for allegedly sleeping on duty.
He said when Mokapela arrived at the site he was guarding with a colleague in the company of another supervisor he accused them of sleeping while at work.
“We were tired and we had just lain on our backs when they arrived,” he said.
“We were not asleep because we heard them when they came.”
He alleged that Mokapela became angry and promised that he would punish them later.
This was around 3am, he said.
He alleged that later that morning at around 9.30am Mokapela called him into his room at the camp.
And when he entered the room Mokapela allegedly locked the door and lifted his bed to reveal a big knife under it, he said.
“He lifted his bed and revealed a big knife (sabole),” he said.
“He said he would kill me with it if I told anyone what he was about to do to me.”
He alleged that Mokapela stripped him and raped him. 
The second complainant is 28.
He said Mokapela called him to his room on November 8 and threatened him with a knife.
He said Mokapela then allegedly proceeded to pull down his pants and started rubbing his thighs.
After that, he alleged, Mokapela asked him if he would ever sleep at work again.
He said when he answered “no” Mokapela told him to go but not before threatening to kill him if he mentioned the incident to anyone.
The 21-year-old complainant alleged that Mokapela raped him last Wednesday in the radio room at the camp.
He said the instructor first accused him of sleeping at work but when he refuted the allegation he stripped him and raped him.
This paper could not interview the 18-year-old but he appeared at the court and the police confirmed that he too had been indecently assaulted.
During the court proceedings the magistrate, ’Masechaba Mothethoa, asked Mokapela to look for a lawyer.
The accused looked relaxed from the dock even though his legs were in chains.
He was wearing a pair of jeans and a blanket with blue, black and yellow patches.
In a booming voice, Mokapela asked the magistrate for bail but the request was met with angry objections from the complainants who argued that if set free he would hurt them as he had threatened when he was raping them.
They produced a sword which they alleged was the weapon which was used to threaten them.
By around 7pm last night, Mokapela was still arguing in court seeking bail.
He said if he was a dangerous criminal he could have harmed the four when the allegations of sodomy first surfaced.
He said he enjoyed warm relations with the four complainants and claimed that at one time the 18-year-old had asked him in public to go and buy snacks for him.
The young man vehemently denied the allegations.
Earlier a senior official from BB Alert had told the Lesotho Times that he was going to investigate the matter.
But when later called for his findings he said the four had already gone to court and he could not get the details from them.